Head of Research

Purpose of the role: To make financial services fairer by leading our work on product ratings and consumer research.

We welcome applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds. Fairness is core to everything we do. We value diversity and inclusion. If you require any reasonable adjustments to be made at any stage of the application process, please let us know.

About us

We’re a fast growing company with a mission to make financial services fairer for consumers as well as the businesses that serve them. We do that through campaigning, publishing our unique ratings, and by working with companies to help them deliver better outcomes for their customers.

We are recruiting for a new Head of Research to lead our fast-growing team. This is an exciting role and we are looking for the right person to lead our research team.

As this is a team leader role, people management skills will be important. As this is a technical research role, statistical and research skills will be important. Most importantly, we’re looking for someone who shares our values.

Responsibilities

As our Head of Research, you’ll be one of the key people in the company, responsible for managing and maintaining all of our ratings and consumer research.

• You’ll lead a team of six UK-based researchers, as well as our outsourced team of five in Delhi.
• You’ll be shaping their professional development, and ensuring we have the right mix of skills in the team.
• You'll be responsible for ensuring that all our data is accurate, through the appropriate mix of human-led and AI-led methods.
• You’ll lead the development of our research criteria and the methodologies behind our ratings.
• You’ll lead the team in developing methodologies for new sectors.
• Working with our external polling partner, you’ll oversee our twice-yearly surveys to over 10,000 consumers.
• You’ll lead the team in the analysis of these large datasets.
• Working with our developers, you’ll have responsibility for developing our online Insight Portal, where companies log in and see our data and analysis.
• Working with our business development team, you’ll lead the team in responding to client feedback.
• Working with the wider company, you’ll be a leading voice in developing our policy positions which inform our campaigning and consumer advocacy.
• Working with the consultancy team, you’ll contribute to client-led consumer research projects and analysis.
• You’ll be part of the company’s senior leadership team and will play a key role in helping us shape our growth and development strategy.
• You’ll be one of the company’s external spokespeople, helping deal with media enquiries and speaking at industry events.

Skills, knowledge, experience

• Proven track record of people management, and the confidence to lead a team.
• Advanced knowledge of statistics, and applied analytical skills in software packages such as Excel, R, etc.
• A background in research methods.
• An excellent eye for detail.
• A confident presenter and public speaker.
• Knowledge of financial services is desirable but not essential.

Values

Importantly, you’ll share our values. This will mean you will have:

• A passion for fairness.
• An enthusiasm to collaborate and co-create solutions.
• A supportive attitude towards others.
• The humility to seek out a diversity of views and listen to others.
• The courage to stand up for what you believe.
• A commitment to quality.
• A desire to take the initiative and ownership of your work.
• A creative and innovative mindset.
• A reflective mindset, constantly seeking to learn, evaluate, and improve.
• A desire to seek feedback and learn quickly.
• The honesty to admit mistakes.

Head of Researcher Benefits:

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, and one extra day for every year you stay with the business.
• Company pension scheme upon successful completion of the probationary period.
• A supportive and fun working environment with regular social events and a charity outreach day every year.
• Season ticket loan.
• Career Progression and Professional Development.

Location

We provide flexible working arrangements for all our staff, tailored to their needs. For this role, we have an expectation of at least 3 days a week in the office on average. We are open to conversations about how this might look in practice, and how we can design the role to fit around you. We go out of our way to support our staff in meeting their other commitments, such as childcare.

Fairer Finance is based in Shoreditch, London (EC2A 4NJ).

Next steps

Please apply by submitting your CV along with a covering letter outlining why you believe you’re well-placed for this role, and why you’d like to work for Fairer Finance. You will only be considered for this role if you attach a tailored covering letter.

There will be at least two interviews for the role. Second round interviews will be in person.